The owner of four pit bulls that attacked and killed a woman in Southern California has been charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon, Los Angeles prosecutors said yesterday.

The owner of four pit bulls that attacked and killed a woman in Southern California has been charged with murder and assault with a deadly weapon, Los Angeles prosecutors said yesterday.

Alex Donald Jackson, 29, was taken into custody after the May 9 attack in the community of Littlerock when Los Angeles County deputy sheriffs searching for the dogs said they found a marijuana “grow operation” at his home.

Eight dogs were seized from his house: six pit bulls and two mixed breeds. Sheriff’s officials said at the time they were conducting DNA and forensic tests on the dogs.

Pamela Maria Devitt, 63, was jogging along a road when a pack of pit bulls attacked her in Littlerock, in the sparsely populated high desert of southern California about 65 miles east of Los Angeles.